He later worked as a coach, one of his major achievements was helping Austria qualify for the 1978 FIFA World Cup, the first time Austria had qualified for the World Cup in twenty years. The Austrian team advanced to the second round in whose first match they fell 1-5 against Netherlands being coached by former international teammate Ernst Happel. Later he led them during the game dubbed The miracle of Córdoba, against arch-rivals West Germany, which the Austrians won 3–2 and which was Austria's first win against West Germany for 47 years,